Origins of existence : how life emerged in the universe / Fred Adams.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Adams, Fred, 1961-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Life--Origin.

Physical Description:

266 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Free Press, [2002]

Summary:

In Origins of Existence astrophysicist Fred Adams takes a radically different approach from the long tradition of biologists and spiritual leaders who have tried to explain how the universe supports the development of life. He argues that life followed naturally from the laws of physics -- which were established as the universe burst into existence at the big bang. Those elegant laws drove the formation of galaxies, stars, and planets -- including some like our Earth. That chain of creation produced all the tiny chemical structures and vast celestial landscapes required for life. Ultimately, physical laws and the complexity they generate define the kind of biospheres that are possible -- from an Amazon rain forest to a frigid ocean beneath an ice sheet on a Jovian moon.

Contents:

Chapter 0 Beginnings 1

Chapter 1 Physics 6

Chapter 2 Universes 37

Chapter 3 Galaxies 67

Chapter 4 Stars 93

Chapter 5 Planets 124

Chapter 6 Life 158

Chapter 7 Reflections 190.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [239]-248) and index.

ISBN:

0743212622

OCLC:

50124724